Assisting heat exchanger and direct temperature rise/lowering device of ultra-low liquor ratior dyeing machine

ABSTRACT

An ultra-low liquor ratio fabric dyeing machine includes an assisting heat exchanger and a direct temperature rise/lowering device. The assisting heat exchanger or multiple ones of the assisting heat exchanger are additionally included in the dyeing machine. The assisting heat exchanger includes an external pipe that is mounted to a pump pipe of a pump at an inlet port, an outlet port, or both inlet and outlet ports thereof and is mounted with inlet and outlet openings for steam and cooling water in order to serve as an external casing that houses the pump pipe, while the pump pipe serves as a heat exchange pipe of the heat exchanger. The direct temperature rise/lowering device is mounted to a dyeing bath of the dyeing machine to directly introduce steam or cold water therein for quickly increasing or decreasing the temperature of the dyeing bath.

(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an assisting heat exchanger and adirect temperature rise/lowering device for use with an ultra-low liquorratio dyeing machine, and in particular to an assisting heat exchangerthat is additionally installed in a dyeing machine without increase ofliquid or water consumption (liquor ratio) such that the assisting heatexchanger that is structured to use a pumping pipe as a heat exchangepipe serve as an auxiliary or secondary heat exchanger of the dyeingmachine. In addition, the present invention also provides a directtemperature rise/lowing device that is mounted to a predeterminedlocation in the dyeing machine so that in conducting a washing operationof a dyeing bath of the dyeing machine, steam may be fast introducedtherein to fast increase the temperature of water used to wash a dyingbath and in an attempt to lower down the temperature of the dyeing bath,cold water is fast introduced to cause a quick drop of the temperatureof the dyeing bath so as to provide an assisting temperaturerise/lowering device for washing the dyeing bath of the dyeing machine.

(b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A conventional ultra-low liquor ratio dyeing machine is often installedwith a small-sized heat exchanger due to low liquor ratio and smallliquid amount used, in order to reduce the amount of water consumed.However, temperature rise or lowering is often slow when fast increaseor decrease of temperature (such as for washing a dyeing bath) is neededand this would affect the efficiency of operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide anassisting heat exchanger that helps increases the rate ofincreasing/decreasing a temperature of a dyeing machine and improvesoperation efficiency but does not requires an increase of the amount ofwater (liquor ratio) used. Another objective of the present invention isto provide a direct temperature rise/lowering device that assists theperformance of a heat exchanger to achieve fast increase or decrease ofa temperature of water that is used to wash a dyeing bath of a dyeingmachine in order to shorten the time period required for washing thedyeing bath.

The feature of the present invention is that an external pipe isadditionally mounted to an inlet port or an outlet port or both inletand outlet ports of a pump of an ultra-low liquid ratio dyeing machineand is mounted with inlet and outlet openings for seam and cooling waterso that additionally mounted external pipe may be structured as ahousing of a heat exchanger to function as a typical heat exchanger toincrease the rate of increasing or decreasing a temperature but withoutincreasing the amount of water (liquor) used in the dyeing machine.

In this way, an existing pump pipe can be used as a heat exchange pipeof a heat changer to form a typical heat exchanger that might serve asan auxiliary or secondary heat exchanger, and additionally, a directtemperature rise/lowering device may be mounted in a dyeing bath of adyeing machine at a predetermined location so that steam may be directlyintroduced into a dyeing bath in washing the dyeing bath in order todirectly heat washing water so that the cleaning liquid can be quicklyincreased of the temperature thereof to improve washing performance andshorten washing time, and cold water may be alternatively introduced inan attempt to lower down the temperature of the dyeing bath so thatquick lowering of temperature of the dyeing bath may be achieved.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introductionto the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a structure of a dyeing machineaccording to an embodiment the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides an assisting heatexchanger and a direct temperature rise/lowering device for an ultra-lowliquor ratio dyeing machine that comprises a machine body 1 and a dyeingtube 8 arranged above the machine body 1 to allow fabric to movetherethrough. The dyeing tube 8 is provided therein with a fabric seamdetectors 5 that is set at a predetermined location to detect a leadingedger or seam of the fabric. The machine body 1 is provided, in aninterior space thereof, with a nozzle 4 and a fabric guide roller 3arranged at an upper portion of a front end thereof. The machine body 1is provided with a liquid storage tank 6 that is mounted to a bottom ofthe machine body at a rear end thereof. The liquid storage tank 6 isprovided with a primary heat exchanger 12 arranged therein. In analternative arrangement, the primary heat exchanger 12 may be mounted toa pipe 9 for circulation of dye. The liquid storage tank 6 is connected,at a bottom thereof, through a pipe 13 to a pump 7. The pump 7 has aninlet port and an outlet port and an external pipe 101 is additionallymounted to encompass the pipe 9 at the inlet port or the outlet port ofthe pump and comprises a steam inlet opening 113, a cooling water inletopening 114, and a cooling water outlet opening 115 mounted thereto. Theadditionally mounted external pipe 101 may serve as a housing orexternal casing of a heat exchanger to help increase the rate ofincreasing or decreasing a temperature but does not require an increaseof the amount of water (liquor ratio) consumed by or involved in theoperation of the dyeing machine. In this way, the pipe 9 of the pump 7may serve as a heat exchange pipe of the heat exchanger to thereby forma typical heat exchanger, which functions as an assisting heat exchanger10. Preferably, valves for controlling ingress and egress of steam andcooling water for the assisting heat exchanger 10 are shared with theprimary heat exchanger 12 of the dyeing machine in order to simplify theoverall structure and save cost. Further, the present invention alsoinvolves a direct temperature rise/lowering device 11 that is mounted ina dyeing bath 1-1 inside the machine body 1 at a predetermined location.When washing the dyeing bath 1-1 is required, steam may be introducedthrough a steam pipe 111 to cause a direct temperature rise of washingwater so that the temperature of the washing water may be quicklyincreased thereby shortening the washing time. When temperature drop isrequired form the dyeing bath 1-1, cold water may be introduced througha cold water pipe 112 so that the temperature the dyeing bath 1-1 can belowered down quickly.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the claimsof the present invention.

I claim:
 1. An assisting heat exchanger and direct temperaturerise/lower device used in combination with an ultra-low liquor ratiofabric dyeing machine, comprising an external pipe that is mounted to apipe at an inlet port, an outlet port, or both the inlet and outletports of a pump of the dyeing machine, such that the external pipehouses the pipe to serve as an external casing of a heat exchange deviceand the pipe that is housed functions as a heat exchange pipe of theheat exchange device that forms a heat exchanger operable to selectivelyincrease or decrease a temperature without increase amount of waterconsumed in the dyeing machine, a direct temperature rise/loweringdevice being additionally included and mounted to a dyeing bath of thedyeing machine at a predetermined location to quickly increase ordecrease a temperature of the dyeing bath.
 2. The assisting heatexchanger and direct temperature rise/lower device according to claim 1,wherein the assisting heat exchanger or the direct temperaturerise/lowering device is installed individually.